"The CEA speaks truth to power cautiously. Don't shoot the messenger," he added.

Chidambaram was reacting to the Economic Survey-II 2016-17 which predicts that the economy may not be able to clock the growth rate of 7.5 per cent targeted in the pre-budget survey and that it was facingÂ Former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Saturday said the economic slowdown is real as stated by the government's Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian and asked whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley believed him.

"The CEA speaks truth to power cautiously. Don't shoot the messenger," he added.

Chidambaram was reacting to the Economic Survey-II 2016-17 which predicts that the economy may not be able to clock the growth rate of 7.5 per cent targeted in the pre-budget survey and that it was facingÂ